INSIDE: Tackling crime and disorder in Hackney pg 2 Safety in neighbours campaign pg 3 Countryside Alliance clean up pg 3 #YouAreNotPowerless campaign pg 4 Fighting for a gas safe nation pg 6 #MulletOver campaign pg 6

> THE E-NEWSLETTER FOR NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH SUPPORTERS

SEPTEMBER 2020 EDITION

Preventing crime and supporting communities across England and Wales

Dear supporters, Many of us are still living in uncertainty with Covid-19 present in our communities especially as we approach the next phase of returning to schools and offices. With local measures and travel restrictions being introduced some of us are still facing isolation. This combined with the recession increases the hardship for many of our supporters.

It is important we continue to pull together as a community and support our neighbours through this challenging time. Together we are stronger and this month we encourage you to join us in supporting CrimeStoppers’ Domestic Abuse campaign #YouAreNotPowerless (more on page 4), and #MulletOver - an anti-phishing campaign by Action Fraud (more on page 6).

If you lead or belong to an active local Neighbourhood Watch group we encourage you to continue to share with us the great work that you are doing, by emailing enquiries@ourwatch.org.uk

John Hayward-Cripps

CEO | Neighbourhood Watch Network

In our August newsletter we covered the launch of the National Neighbourhood Watch Survey to benchmark whether membership of a Neighbourhood Watch scheme or living in a Neighbourhood Watch area has an impact on levels of crime, concern about crime, neighbourliness and the willingness of communities to work together.

The response since then has been phenomenal. We have received just over 33,000 responses from all across England and Wales, surpassing all our expectations and providing us with a rich and useful set of data.

Neighbourhood Watch groups and our partners shared the link across their networks and we achieved a good balance of responses from both members and non-members which will help us to compare experiences between these two groups.

Thank you for your support in sharing this survey as widely as you have.

. ..continued on page 2

Measuring our impact

OUR NEWS SEPTEMBER 2020 EDITION | 2

Kings Crescent Estate in Hackney was inundated with drug dealing issues which brought further disorder, such as drug users, prostitution, thefts of bikes and motorcycles, unauthorised access into apartment blocks, loitering, stealing of post, and drug related paraphernalia.

Lynne Troughton, Neighbourhood Watch Champion for Hackney, together with Principal Enforcement Officer, Bianca Rembrandt, attended Thames Magistrates court on 19th August to obtain a 3 month extension of two closure orders for the estate to tackle this ongoing crime and disorder.

As a result, an action plan for the estate was created to tackle the problems on four different levels (the estate, the buildings, problem addresses and problem people).

• The estate now has its own Neighbourhood Watch scheme with more than 30 members signed up in its first few weeks and is still actively attracting more residents to become members. Neighbourhood Watch signs have been placed across the estate with support from local enforcement officers.

• A new CCTV improvement programme is also being rolled out across the estate and cameras have already started being installed such as the new tilt, pan and zoom camera (see image below).

• The closure order has prevented unwelcome visitors loitering on the wider block grounds and dealing drugs on the balcony and stairwells. (They would use fire drop keys, which can be purchased online, to gain access into blocks.)

• Hackney Housing is due to carry out further work to install new Gerda panels to protect the fire control panels from unauthorised access.

• To further address the issue of people loitering and sitting on resident’s walls smoking, drinking alcohol and engaging in rowdy and inconsiderate behaviour, prickly planting (see below) has been introduced.

• The local shop has also been asked to try and educate and encourage their regular customers, who they know to be part of the street population, to be respectful when walking through the estate and not loiter and use the proper seating.

The response from residents has been very positive:

“I am in full support of you extending the

partial closure order on Bramfield Court.

The current one made a huge difference

instantly!!

There are no longer people constantly

hanging around in the stairwell. I use it with

my children so the block has felt a lot safer

ever since.

Thank you to you and the team for all of the

work you have done to make this happen”.

• Tackling crime and disorder in Hackney

Measuring our impact continued

Some areas have achieved well over 1,000 responses – with two areas, Thames Valley and West Midlands, well over 2,000.

We will be analysing the results over the coming weeks and will publish some of the findings in our upcoming new annual Impact Report. Following that, we will be in a position to provide individual Force Areas and Boroughs

with their own results.

In areas where the response has been limited, there may not be enough data to enable local analysis to accurately reflect the impact of Neighbourhood Watch, but the findings will provide a benchmark that the Force Area or Borough can use to compare with their progress over time.

OUR NEWS SEPTEMBER 2020 EDITION | 3

‘SAFETY IN NEIGHBOURS’ burglary prevention campaign

Our Safety in Neighbours campaign was delivered primarily on social media towards the end of July and into August. The primary goal was to deliver a burglary prevention message whilst engaging people to think about Neighbourhood Watch as a modern and relevant crime prevention and community safety charity.

The underlying theme of the campaign was ‘there’s safety in neighbours’ and was targeted at 20 – 50-year-old non-supporters whilst also reaching our existing supporters.

The campaign drove people to relevant pages on our website: a live postcode crime map; burglary prevention advice based on the WIDE set of police-approved principles; and a downloadable burglary prevention checklist.

Early analysis indicates our campaign reached over 55,000 supporters and over 200,000 non-supporters. Up to 53,000 people engaged with our campaign messages via our website landing pages.

We targeted the campaign at the top 12 highest burglary areas in England and Wales, using paid Facebook advertising. Of these, the areas with the highest engagement were Piccadilly, Manchester and Halliwell, Bolton.

One of the objectives of the campaign was to reach a new younger audience, so we were really pleased to see that the most clicks on the adverts came from the 25-34 age group.

We saw a 71% increase in social media followers across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram during the campaign compared to the previous timeframe.

We received positive feedback from members on all our visuals and burglary prevention key messages with our targeted adverts seeing the highest engagement.

Our campaign even reached the Western Australia Police Force who would like to use our imagery for

their Neighbourhood Watch social media channel!

Thank you to everyone who supported our campaign. All the campaign assets, and burglary advice including a downloadable burglary prevention checklist will remain accessible on our website for use at any point by our supporters.

Countryside Alliance’s clean-up

The Countryside Alliance is delighted to announce that the annual Countryside Clean-up has been rescheduled and will take place on 19 and 20 September, following its earlier postponement due to the coronavirus.

Building on from the success of this initiative over the past two years, the Countryside Alliance is urging all members and supporters to engage with this community event by taking

part in dedicated litter-picking sessions across the country over the two-day period. Whether this be conducted on your own, with your family or in a socially-distanced manner with a larger group, we are encouraging everybody who respects the countryside to take part in this initiative to clean up the countryside.

Fly-tipping and littering in the countryside became one of the many negative side-effects of the pandemic, particularly when local waste recycling centres were shut, so the Countryside Clean-up is more important than ever. “There are few things that annoy those living in rural areas as much as mindless littering and our supporters have always been keen to take practical steps to clean up their part of the countryside,” explained Tim Bonner, Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance. “Relying on one part of the community to clear up after another is not a satisfactory solution to littering and fly-tipping, however in previous years our supporters have cleaned up miles of roadside verges, footpaths and open spaces and I am sure the same will be true again this September.”

To register your litter-pick or for more information please visit https://www.countryside-alliance.org/support-us/events-2/countryside-clean-up-19th-20th-september

“ ”Up to 53,000 people engaged

with our campaign via our website.

OUR NEWS SEPTEMBER 2020 EDITION | 4

• #YouAreNotPowerless

Did you know that two women are killed each week by a current or former partner and it is estimated that a typical victim of domestic abuse endures up to 35 assaults before speaking up?

We want to let everyone know that you have the power to help stop domestic abuse. If you suspect domestic abuse and don’t want to reveal your identity, you can tell the charity Crimestoppers what you know on the phone 0800 555 111 or online, 24/7, 365 days a year.

We’re proud to be supporting Crimestoppers #YouAreNotPowerless campaign which is a 6 week long social media campaign directed at those who suspect someone is a victim or perpetrator of domestic abuse.

Every two weeks Crimestoppers will be shifting their focus to raise awareness of their anonymous reporting service and talking to different audiences in relation to this crime type.

We’re inviting all of our membership to help promote this important message on social media from today. We also have some printable assets which are available here https://crimestoppers-uk.org/domesticabuse.

• Summer Seminars a resounding success

What an amazing time we had at our Summer Seminars! While usually we meet at venues across England and Wales, this year, as we all know, we needed to rethink how we arranged it.

Over three days in August we hosted over 250 delegates from across England and Wales, including Association Leads, Coordinators and new members. The aim of the sessions was to include our membership in the consultation of our refreshed strategy, discussing how we engage with partners and police, exploring ways to reach communities that have not previously engaged with us, including people who live in high crime areas, BAME communities, young people and transient communities. We also explored what activities the Central Support Team could support the membership with, in addition to the usual information sharing.

We were delighted to welcome our sponsors Coop Insurance and Avast to present at the event, highlighting the joint work they have done and continue to do with Neighbourhood Watch, and for us to welcome a new partner, Countryside Alliance, who demonstrated the need for joint working with us to ensure a safer rural community network. There was also a presentation addressing how we engage with the army of formal and informal volunteers post-lockdown and and ways we could signpost

and motivate them to continue to support their community, whether it be with Neighbourhood Watch or with other community groups across our network.

As always, the work that our Coordinators and Associations do in their communities never ceases to amaze us and we were privileged to welcome representatives from Devon & Cornwall, Greater Manchester, Hull, Merton, Hounslow and Pontypridd to showcase some of the inspirational work that they have been involved with. This not only inspires us but encourages us to do more in our own communities.

We want to thank everyone who attended the sessions and if anyone would like copies of the materials because they were unable to attend, please contact us via: enquiries@ourwatch.org.uk

OUR NEWS SEPTEMBER 2020 EDITION | 5

‘Being part of a bigger movement, and knowing

I have a small part to play in keeping the cogs of

that movement going, is very motivating.’

SPOTLIGHT ON JENNIFER POWELLFINANCE AND GOVERNANCE MANAGER

What attracted you to work for Neighbourhood Watch?

I had previously helped the Central Support Team on a

voluntary basis with finance work, so when I was contacted

in January 2020 to ask if I could cover a period between the

outgoing Finance & Governance Manager and the incoming

one, I was very happy to help. Unfortunately, due to changes

Covid-19 brought to so many people, the incoming Finance

& Governance Manager withdrew and I have remained in the

post since then.

Before Neighbourhood Watch Network, I have been a

charity accountant for over 20 years, at large charities and

more recently supporting personal safety charity the Suzy

Lamplugh Trust.

How does your position support Neighbourhood Watch

groups across England and Wales?

The sign of a smooth-running finance function is that it runs

in the background and mainly goes unnoticed. That’s my goal

- to support the Central Support Team with the day to day

finance functions, and providing financial input into decision

making, to help make sure resources are directed at the most

needed areas of our work.

In terms of supporting the Neighbourhood Watch groups

across England and Wales, most of my support is indirect,

by supporting my colleagues in the Central Support Team.

However I facilitate payments of commission from Patlock

(the security device) to Force Area Associations. Also, I’m

happy to be contacted by treasurers and if there’s need/

appetite, I will look into facilitating a treasurers peer

support group.

What do you enjoy most about being part of

Neighbourhood Watch?

In terms of my job, I really enjoy being part of a small team

and having a wide range of finance tasks to carry out. Even

though most of my time working in the Central Support

Team has been spent working from home since Covid-19

restrictions started, the team works very closely together,

having regular video calls and phone calls.

Being part of a bigger movement, and knowing I have a small

part to play in keeping the cogs of that movement going, is

very motivating.

Enquiries role at Neighbourhood Watch

The work of our Administrator, Kathleen Cunningham, is regarded as one of the most

demanding of our team. She manages the enquiries phone lines and email inbox and is the first person you speak to when you call our enquiries number. Kathleen manages over 275 enquiries emails on average each month and has dealt with over 1,500 enquiries since the start of lockdown back in March. It is encouraging to know that most of our enquiries are to ask for help setting up a scheme or joining as a member. However, this is closely followed by people reporting anti-social behaviour (ASB) to us. Whilst we appreciate you letting us know, we cannot action these and ask if you can

report these to the police or to your local council ASB teams. The work of our enquiries department is very important to us but especially to our members and those members of the public that want to join or start a scheme. It is the first point of contact that a person goes to when they want to ask the Central Support Team for advice or support.

Our enquiries department is open Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm.

Our email address is enquiries@ourwatch.org.uk.

It has now been nearly six months since the beginning of the national lockdown in March, and over this period of time there has been, undoubtedly, an increase in connectedness amongst our neighbourhoods and communities – from joining new local social media groups to helping out neighbours with everyday tasks and chores.

It is integral to be able to utilise these newly found connections to share knowledge and information that can keep your neighbours safe and well.

This is why we are excited to announce that we will be partnering with Gas Safe Register on this year’s Gas Safety Week, now in its tenth year, which will be running from Monday 14th to Sunday 20th September.

For this year’s campaign, Gas Safe Register will be raising awareness of how one innocent gas safety slip can have a devastating impact on a wider neighbourhood, and will be calling on the country’s new sense of connectedness, encouraging people to take action and protect themselves and their neighbours, by sharing gas safety tips within their local social media networks.

During the Week, we’ll be collaborating with Gas Safe Register, sharing – via our social media channels - the simple steps that we can all take to spot the signs and

symptoms of unsafe gas appliances in both our homes and neighbourhoods.

To help your neighbourhood stay Better Gas Safe Than Sorry this Gas Safety Week visit https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/gassafetyweek/, and be sure to follow updates on how you get involved from our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds. For more information and tips on how to stay gas safe, you can download the official Gas Safety Week flyer here.

OUR NEWS SEPTEMBER 2020 EDITION | 6

Fighting for a gas safe nation

#MulletOver anti-phishing campaign

What is phishing and how does it work? You wouldn’t let a thief enter your home, but what if the thief was masquerading as someone familiar, such as a postman, and tricked you into opening the door? Phishing works in a similar way - criminals use legitimate-looking messages and websites to trick people into opening the doors to their personal data, giving up logins, passwords or even payment details. That information can then be used to commit fraud and cyber crime.

How big is the problem? Phishing attacks are a common security challenge that both individuals and businesses across the UK face on a regular basis. The National Cyber Security Centre’s Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) received over 1.7M reports from the public between April and August 2020, with the most commonly faked brands being TV Licensing, HMRC and GOV.UK.

How can you protect yourself from phishing scams? Many phishing scams started with a message out of the blue. Whether it’s an email asking you to “verify” account information, or a text message claiming to be from your bank, the goal of a phishing attack is usually the same - to trick you into revealing personal and financial information.

Criminals are experts at impersonation and they’re constantly getting better at creating fake emails and texts that look like the real thing. Here’s some simple advice you can follow when it comes to dealing with phishing scams:

1. Your bank, or any other official organisation, won’t ask you to share personal information over email or text. If you need to check that it’s a genuine message, call them directly. Don’t use the contact details in the email, but visit the official website instead.

2. If you have received an email which you’re not quite sure about, forward it to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS): report@phishing.gov.uk.

3. Received a text message you’re not quite sure about? Maybe it’s asking you to “verify” personal or financial details, such as a banking password? You can report suspicious text messages by forwarding them to 7726.

4. If you’ve lost money or provided personal information as a result of a phishing email, notify your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud: www.actionfraud.police.uk

5. For more simple tips on how to protect yourself online, visit: www.actionfraud.police.uk/cybercrime

FIGHTING FOR A GAS SAFE NATION

Only a Gas Safe registered engineer has the superpower to fit, fix or service your gas appliances safely and legally.

GasSafetyWeek.co.uk

OUR NEWS SEPTEMBER 2020 EDITION | 7

UK Finance reveals ten Covid-19 scams the public should be on high alert for - Thursday, 30 July, 2020

Using the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity, fraudsters are using sophisticated methods to callously exploit people, with many concerned about their financial situation and the state of the economy. To coincide with the launch of its new animation urging people to follow the advice of the Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign, UK Finance today reveals ten Covid-19 and lockdown scams which criminals are using to target people to get them to part with their money. Find out more here.

Ten Covid-19 scams

Did you know...

Walk, cycle or scoot to school

where you can.

If you are travelling by public

transport allow more time. 

You must wear a face covering

if you are aged over 11, unless

you are exempt.

If you are sharing a car,

open the windows, wear a

face covering unless you are

exempt, and leave some seats

free to social distance.

Back to School Travel Guidance

1.

2.

3.

For further information visitwww.gov.uk/coronavirus

The Government has issued ‘Back to School Travel Guidance’. Walk, cycle or scoot to school where you can. If you are travelling by public transport allow more time. You must wear a face covering if you are aged over 11, unless you are exempt. If you are sharing a car, open the windows, wear a face covering unless you are exempt, and leave some seats free to social distance. For further information visit www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Looking after our mental health is important at all ages, but it can be even more important as we get older. A recent study found that one in five people over the age of 55 suffer from poor mental health. We’ve explored what can be done to give better peace of mind in your later years?

Be prepared for change: With the removal of a statutory retirement age, people have the option to work later in life. This provides many opportunities such as working part time or changing to flexible working hours.

Keeping in touch: Friends can help to keep you on track when life becomes difficult. It can be easy to lose touch with people, especially if their life seems busy. Having friends is a positive way to maintain good emotional health, even when doing so may sometimes seem like hard work.

Staying active: As well as the well-known benefits to physical activity such as maintaining a healthy weight, exercise can also provide many other benefits such as boosting self-esteem, promoting a good sleep pattern and providing the opportunity to meet others.

Having a plan: Naturally there are considerations that come with later life. Such as retirement (as mentioned above), pensions and will writing. That’s when it is good to have a plan. A plan can help you think through all the aspects of a problem or situation.

By purchasing life insurance, you’re securing peace of mind should the unexpected happen. Your family are your most important asset.

With life cover you can ensure your loved ones are taken care of when you’re no longer around helping to ease any anxiety you may be experiencing.

Applicants for insurance are subject to normal underwriting

criteria. Co-op Life Cover is provided,

underwritten and administered by The

Royal London Group.

Co-op Insurance Services is a trading

name of Co-op Insurance Services

Limited; registered in England and

Wales with registration number 4390.

Registered office: 1 Angel Square,

Manchester M60 0AG.

Looking after our mental health

OUR NEWS SEPTEMBER 2020 EDITION | 8

Cyberhood Watch protecting our community

It’s been a busy month for the Cyberhood Watch partnership. Over the summer we held two online accreditation sessions for our Cyberhood Watch Ambassadors. The training covered the latest technology threats, to ensure these local leaders are fully equipped to help their local community. If you are interested in becoming an Ambassador then do drop us a line at enquiries@ourwatch.org.uk

Brad Poole from Avast also attended our Summer Seminars in August to share some advice and best practice on managing children’s online behaviour. For those that could not attend a recap of the best advice can be found below.

Safety starts at home: A comprehensive checklist for privacy-savvy parents

We often teach our children the lessons that we learned ourselves when we were little...

• Look both ways before crossing the street.

• Don’t talk to strangers.

• Wash your hands before eating (true these days now more than ever).

Most of these lessons are about protecting our kids. But today as parents, we have a vast new world to explain and protect our kids from — one that our parents never had to worry about: the internet.

So how exactly do we protect our kid’s online privacy? Here’s a selection of best practice advice to get you started.Be informed

We should always be educating ourselves. We can’t teach our kids about online privacy if we don’t know about it! Here’s a list of basic online privacy terms we should all be

familiar with: Phishing, App permissions, Location tracking, VPN, Public Wi-Fi, Metadata, Anti-virus, Sexting, Social media privacy settings, Cybersecurity and Malware.

Lead by example

As with anything else with parenting, our actions speak louder than our words. Take a parental timeout to really assess your own online habits. Where can you be better about privacy? Maybe it’s time to update your passwords or review your privacy settings on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.

Install anti-virus programs on all devices

A lot of the items on this list focus on talking with our kids about actions they can take, but there are actions we can take behind the scenes as well. Install an anti-virus program on all of your devices, from phones to tablets to computers, and make sure they’re up to date!

Give your kids their own accounts

If you regularly hand over your phone or tablet to your child, create an account specifically for them. This allows you to make sure all of the privacy settings are correct, without having to deal with them yourself. It also protects your personal stuff — from texts to photos to emails — from any curious eyes.

Utilise screen pinning

Did you know that you can lock in an app so that your kid can’t move away from it? So, for example, if there’s a game that your 7-year-old really loves, you can “screen pin” it on Android or activate “Guided Access” on iOS. Once you have that feature activated, they won’t be able to move away from the game - it will be pinned to their screen.

On Android, go to Settings > Security > Screen pinning. You also need to make sure that “Ask for PIN before unpinning” is enabled, or else your kid will be able to navigate away. On iOs, go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Guided Access.

Let your kids know they can always come to you

Finally, make it really clear that they can come to you with anything related to online privacy and won’t get in trouble - even if they broke the rules. You are your child’s first line of defense and in order for them to stay safe they have to know they can come to you, always.

To find out more about our relationship with Avast and about the Cyberhood Watch initiative visit avast.com/uk-cyberhood.